In submerged combustion melting, a burner is used to inject a flame into a pool of molten material. The flame diffuses upwardly through the molten pool, carrying with it thermal energy for intimate heating of the molten pool. In some cases, the molten pool can begin to freeze at the point where the flame is injected into the molten pool. The freeze can extend upwardly toward the top surface of the molten pool, forming what is known as a “cold finger.” Once a cold finger forms in the molten pool, it is normally not reversible and often requires that the melting process be restarted.